Review: Fluidity by Kim Davis

Scott’s boyfriend of over three years has kicked him out of their apartment. Christopher told him he didn’t contribute anything to the relationship and Scott didn’t have any ambition. Scott is informed Christopher has been in touch with Scott’s mother, and she’s agreed to let him move back in with her. Scott feels blindsided and is not thrilled with the agreement. However, he doesn’t have anywhere else to go, so on to Mom’s it is. He figures he’ll be able to save money while he’s there so he can get a place of his own.

When Scott gets there, his mom lets him know she secretly married her longtime boyfriend in Vegas a month ago. As of now, they’re living separately until they decide which home they want to live in and which to sell. Scott is a little shocked, but he’s happy for his mother. One night, Scott is invited to dinner with his mom, her husband, and her husband’s son, his new stepbrother, Alex.

Alex hails from LA, but he’s come to Chicago to get his MBA and work for an accounting firm. He says some strange things to Scott, and Scott’s not entirely thrilled. Alex isn’t easily deterred, and keeps pursuing Scott to go out and have drinks and be friends. Scott finally says yes and they go out. Soon, Alex starts hitting on Scott. Scott is shocked and doesn’t want to have anything to do with it, but eventually his resolve wears down and they begin a sexual relationship.

The rest of the story follows Scott and Alex as they try to work their way through family issues and the feelings they’re developing toward each other.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to write this review. I want to be fair to the book, but I also want to express how I feel about the story and the characters. So, **taking a deep breath** here I go. I hope I can do what I’m setting out to do.

I was intrigued by the blurb for Fluidity. It led me to believe I’d be reading a (possibly) hot stepbrother story. I effing LOVE hot stepbrother stories. Well…some parts of it were hot, but it was obvious it wasn’t what I had in mind.

Let me start with the main characters, Scott and Alex. Honestly, I didn’t connect with either of them. In fact, I didn’t really care for them much. Scott had zero ambition and he couldn’t understand why his boyfriend was kicking him out. He didn’t try to advance at his low paying job at a non profit, even though several opportunities presented themselves. He drove an expensive sports car rather than something less expensive, or even borrowing his mom’s or Christopher’s. His reason? He wanted a sports car. He was an overgrown child who wanted everything to be handed to him.

Alex was a brat. He asked Scott a lot of inappropriate questions and said a lot of inappropriate things. He threw himself at Scott, not taking no for an answer until he wore him down. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but Alex lied to Scott about something pretty important, and when he was caught, he continued to try and cover his ass.

My personal opinion was their relationship felt a little forced. I didn’t feel their pull to each other, and I didn’t connect with them at all. I wanted to, and I tried hard, but I wasn’t feeling it.

There are five main background characters in Fluidity. Scott’s mom, Alex’s dad, Scott’s sister, Christopher (the ex), and Scott’s…(ex?) fiancée in LA. All of them rubbed me wrong at one time or another. Once again, no spoilers, but I can tell you this is one of the most dysfunctional families I’ve ever read about. I felt uncomfortable during any family scenes. I suppose that was the idea, but I found myself wanting to skim, especially when Scott’s mom was involved.

Now, I don’t want to lead you to believe I hated Fluidity. I didn’t. It was obvious the author planned the story well. There was a clear and concise beginning, middle, and end. The conflict was certainly believable, and the pacing was excellent. It wasn’t a long novel, and a lot was going on, but it never felt rushed and didn’t give me whiplash.

I was actually satisfied with the end. There was a bit of a surprise, and it was a pretty good one. After the surprise, the rest fell nicely into place. Notice I’m still not giving you any spoilers.

So, to sum everything up. While I wasn’t crazy about the characters and their actions, I can acknowledge the writing style and the story’s pace were well done. Some of the story made me uncomfortable, but the ending wasn’t bad. All in all, I’m going to call Fluidity an average read. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it. I do think there is an audience for it, and for some people, it’s right up their alley.

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